DOT temporarily halts enforcement of Biden-era refund requirements for airline flight renumbering
Transportation department pauses enforcement until June 30 following airline requests
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The Department of Transportation (DOT) announced Friday it is temporarily pausing refund obligations when airlines change flight numbers, easing a rule that treats renumbered flights as cancellations warranting passenger refunds.
Regulations put in place by the Biden administration in 2024 noted flights given a different number than the one assigned when a consumer purchased a ticket are considered new flights, with the original considered canceled and refund eligible.
The DOT said, effective immediately, it will not enforce the requirements regarding refunds when a flight is renumbered so long as the passenger is rebooked on the flight under the new number and the flight is operated without any "significant change or delay."
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has not yet weighed in on the pause, which went into effect Dec. 5. (Reuters/Anna Rose Layden / Reuters Photos)
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The announcement comes after an April review that sought to limit the burden on airlines for operational or commercial changes that do not severely affect passengers.
The DOT also received a request for enforcement discretion from two U.S. carriers after their merger. In that request, the carriers described the need to renumber tens of thousands of flights for operational integration and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) compliance.
The DOT determined passengers were not harmed by the renumbering and granted the request.
The pause will take effect as the DOT decides whether it wants to roll back Biden-era regulations. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images / Getty Images)
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Recently, officials said the department received word from another U.S. airline advocating for a revision to the current definition of a canceled flight as established by the prior administration, arguing the definition is not required by statute, does not reflect the realities of airline operations and is "overly broad."
Enforcement will be paused until June 30, pending a decision on whether to move forward with a final rule to change the definition of a canceled flight, according to the DOT.
It is unclear which airlines made the requests that spurred the review. (Reuters/Damir Sagolj / Reuters)
"The Department is taking this interim step of pausing enforcement of its refund requirements under these specific limited circumstances while it engages in a new rule-making to consider whether to modify the definition of canceled flight through rule-making," officials wrote in a document published Friday in the Federal Register.
A final decision is expected in February, allowing for a comment period for stakeholders to submit their input.
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The DOT did not immediately respond to FOX Business' request for comment.